Azhdarcho

Azhdarcho is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan and possibly also the Ialovachsk Formation of Tajikistan. It is known from fragmentary remains including the distinctive, elongated neck vertebrae that characterizes members of the family Azhdarchidae, a family that includes many giant pterosaurs such as Quetzalcoatlus. The name Azhdarcho comes from the Persian word azhdar (اژدر), a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology. The type species is Azhdarcho lancicollis. The specific epithet lancicollis is derived from the Latin words lancea and collum ("neck"). Most individuals were relatively small with an estimated wingspan of 3–4 m, but some remains indicate a larger wingspan of 5–6 m.

Azhdarcho

Alexander Averianov, Gareth Dyke, Igor Danilov, Pavel Skutschas · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AzhdarchidaePBDB
Diet
piscivorePBDB, for Pterosauria
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Pterosauria
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
marinePBDB, for Pterosauria

Time the record covers

At least 6.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 89.8 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 93.9 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 4 of 4 occurrencesLate Cretaceous94–94 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences94–93 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences93–92 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences92–91 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences91–91 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences91–90 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences90–89 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences86–85 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences85–85 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences85–84 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences84–83 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences83–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–82 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences82–81 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences81–80 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences80–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–79 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences79–78 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences78–77 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences77–76 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences76–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–75 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences75–74 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences74–73 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences73–72 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences72–72 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences89.8 Mya83.6 Mya94.4 Mya71.7 Mya

4 occurrences of Azhdarcho on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

4 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Vitoria — 42.66°N, 2.63°WBissekty — 42.12°N, 62.66°EYalovach — 40.49°N, 69.70°E

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The named rock units Azhdarcho has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Azhdarcho and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Azhdarcho and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

91 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 4 sites for Azhdarcho, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

3 references

Each of the 4 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Azhdarcho

Credit
Alexander Averianov, Gareth Dyke, Igor Danilov, Pavel Skutschas
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAzhdarchidae through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Nessov 1981